Colon cleansing is important prior to numerous diagnostic and surgical procedures, for example before colonoscopy, barium enema examination or colon surgery. It is also useful for preventing infection after surgery on the lower intestine. Colon cleansing is also known as colon clearing.
A variety of methods for colon cleansing are known. Dietary manipulation, laxatives, cathartics and enemas were traditionally used (Thomas, G. et al., Gastroenterology, 1982, 82, 435 437). Sodium phosphate solutions (Clarkston, W. K. et al., Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, 1996, 43, 43 48) and magnesium citrate/sodium picosulphate solutions (Regev, A. et al., Am. J. Gastroenterol., 1998, 93, 1478 1482) have also been used.
Those methods suffer from various drawbacks. Dietary manipulation and laxatives are time consuming; enemas are unpleasant for the patient; and dangerous salt and water losses may occur with cathartics, enemas and with sodium phosphate solutions.
Therefore, there is a great need to identify novel colon cleansing compositions and methods without these drawbacks.